Families blog

Go wild in your city's parks

This guest blog comes from Charly Crump. Charly is our schools and green space outreach project officer for Bristol, working to engage local schools and families in the fantastic habitats and wildlife in the heart of the city. Here she talks about one of our Wild Parks. Wild Parks is a nation wide campaign in 17 cities across Britain.

What happens when a local artist wants to celebrate the green space on her doorstep? Blooming Whiteway Flower Festival!

On 6th May the Whiteway Estate on the edge of Bath was transformed into a parade of lanterns and flowers as the local community flocked together to celebrate the spaces for nature in their local area.

Mum of two and artist, Claire, contacted me back in March to vent her frustrations about how her local green space – Rosewarn Park – was so unloved/unknown by the rest of her community.

Claire could see the potential these green spaces along with other wildlife corridors had to offer and not only for the flocks of starlings and sparrows which she loves so much, but also for people to come together and enjoy as a community. That’s when ‘Blooming Whiteway Festival’ was born.

Months of planning, seed planting, paper flower making and schools engagement paid off and Claire’s dreams were realised – the people heard, and they came, creating a festival to remember. More photos here on their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bloomingwhiteway/

So how does the RSPB get involved in a flower festival I hear you ask!?! Well, thanks to funding from supermarket Aldi via the carrier bag levy, the RSPB is working with communities and their green spaces across 17 UK cities. We’re calling the project ‘Wild Parks’ as we’re really excited to be engaging local families with the wildlife that their local park has waiting to be explored.

The activities on offer include minibeast hunting; bird watching and pond dipping and we’re aiming to reach as many different parks and green spaces as possible across our Wild Parks cities. We’re also working in collaboration with local authorities; community groups; friends of groups and wildlife charities to celebrate the amazing habitats found in our cities.